No. All kids aged 12 and under must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who is walking with them and stays with them at all times (including helping them register and handing in their waiver form).
The routes are family-friendly, but not intended for children walking alone.
Important Reminder: All youth under 18 must have a waiver signed by their legal guardian.
To find your TGP start location, choose the city you are walking in from the Locations page. Everything you need is on your location page, including start/finish location, address, map, contact numbers, emails, route descriptions, and most other location-specific details.
When a donor gives online, we provide them with an opportunity to opt-in and cover the 4.25% processing fees we pay to process each credit card donation. It's totally voluntary, and helps The Grand Parade reduce its operating costs for the event:
This extra amount is added to your overall donation total. For example, a donor gives $100 and covers the 4.25% processing fee - the tax receipt issued is for $104.25.
In the weeks following event day, we immediately go to work processing all the bundles of registration and pledge forms that come in. Verifying all those pledges takes us time - you should see your donation totals updated by early July.
Online donations: All donations of $20 or more with a valid address and email will receive a charitable receipt within minutes of their donation.
Cash or cheque pledges with email addresses: All donations $20 or more with a valid address and email will be receipted via email after the event.
Cash or cheque pledges without email: Cash or cheque donations of $20 or more will be receipted with a valid legible donor name and mailing address by post after the event.
Pets are not permitted at The Grand Parade, except for approved and trained service animals.
We love pets of course, and believe you when you say your pet is super-well-behaved. But, we can’t (and won’t) run the risk of any walker (particularly children who are often at eye level), being bitten or tripped, or your pet being kicked or provoked. So leave your adorable pet at home.
Yes it is! If you donate or pay your registration fee by credit card/Paypal, our charity's legal name will appear on your statement - Blue Sea Foundation - a registered Canadian Foundation.
If you donate or pay your registration fee by credit card or Paypal, our charity's legal name, Blue Sea Foundation, will appear on your statement.
Walkers can select to walk either 2.5 km or 5 km. Most location offer a single 2.5 km route you navigate once or twice if walking the longer distance.
Depending on your fitness, the weather, congestion, and terrain, most walkers clip along at between 4-5 km/hour. That means...
Simple - by fundraising $150 or more (adults) or $75 or more (youth). In fact, it's a win-win-win situation: when you fundraise those minimum amounts to get your TGP cap, you also avoid paying the registration fee, and of course your charity appreciates all that amazing fundraising you did.
No - the registration fee is non-receiptable and non-refundable. Once a registration fee is entered into the system, it cannot be moved or converted into a donation.
However, each registration fee is shared with your local charity, just like donations are. It is also reflected in your location's overall fundraising total.
Reminder: A registration fee will allow you to participate, but our beautiful TGP Logo caps can only be earned by walkers who raise $150 (adults) or $75 (youth).
No - The Grand Parade is a walking event. While you can certainly walk at a fast clip, the pace of the event participants is not conducive to running. It's a parade after all! Also, our insurance coverage does not allow for running.
Yes there are! Walkers will find a rest stop halfway through either their 2.5 km or 5 km route. There will be water, snacks, and a high-five or two to celebrate and cheer you on!
Kids + Youth: All walkers aged 17 or under must submit a paper waiver signed by their parent or guardian in order to participate.
Last-minute signups: All walkers who signed up late (ie. on event day) are required to sign a paper waiver.
Adults: Walkers aged 18+ who have registered online by Friday night are not required to sign a paper waiver.
Yes - everyone who joins a team selects their own 2.5 km or 5 km distance during registration. So, you may certainly have people walking multiple distances on the same team. You'll all start together but end a little bit later the farther you walk.
Please make cheques payable to The Grand Parade, with the name of the walker or team you are supporting on the memo line.
Please bring cheques, pledge forms and any cash you collect to registration on event Day. If you collect donations after event Day, please mail to us and include your pledge form:
Blue Sea Foundation
attn: The Grand Parade
Unit 260-659 King Street East
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
N2G 2M4
A pledge form is sent to you via email automatically when you register for TGP. Additional pledge forms may be downloaded from the Tools page.
Choose the Location you'll be walking from the Locations page - if your location's route map has been finalized, it will be there. (If not, be patient, it'll be there soon.)
Registration opens at 9:00 am, opening ceremonies are at 10:00 am, and we begin walking after the opening ceremonies are complete.
Online donors who give securely with their credit cards get e-receipts within minutes of their donations.
Cash + Cheque Donors are receipted within 100 days of the event by email or post, provided their donation is $20 or over, and we have received a full legible mailing address for their donation.
Watch the weather prior to the event. Layers of clothing are always good, since you will certainly warm up during a long walk. Footwear is also really important - if there is rain, you need to have waterproof boots or shoes. You may want to bring along an umbrella, just in case.
If you receive cash or cheques made payable to YOU, please login to your Fundhub, click Fundraising, then Enter $$ or Cheques, and enter the donor information there. You then have one of two choices:
The waiver form means you understand the risk of walking in the event. You understand that in the event of injury you release the event, the volunteers and the operators and charity partners of the event from any liability. Should your picture be taken on event day, you release TGP to appropriately use your likeness in any future publications related to the event.
Team Captains are the backbone of our event:
On event day, Team Captains rally their team together, congratulate them on a job well done, and walk with those who need a pal. Team Captains recruit and cheerlead their team to raise funds for their charity.
All post-event cheques can be mailed directly (with your completed pledge form) to:
Blue Sea Foundation
attn: The Grand Parade
260-659 King St. East
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
N2G 2M4
1. Print the waiver form, sign it (or have your parent/guardian sign it if you are 17 and under) and have it ready to hand it. Waiver forms are available in tools.
2. Gather your cash and cheques together, and be sure the amount of cash/cheques you have matches what you recorded on your pledge form.
3. Review your cheque donations to ensure they are:
5. Indicate any donation that remains uncollected on your pledge form by highlighting and noting it on your form.
6. Go to your event location and hand in your cash, cheques, and pledge form, and then get walking! (You might want to put it all in a ziploc bag so nothing gets lost.)
TGP officials will monitor temperatures during the week leading up to the walk. If the temperature becomes extremely hot, there are threatening thunderstorms, or any other sort of dangerous weather, we may shorten or suspend the event to safeguard their well-being.
Email or call us and we'll take care of it for you:
We'll need to know:
Great work! Here's the tricky part: TGP can't assign cash/cheque pledges to a team, we can just assign them to a participant. So, you've got 2 options:
Absolutely! The purpose of The Grand Parade is to raise funds for our partner charities. Walkers work hard to raise funds from friends, families, and co-workers to support the charity they are walking for.
For those who register and fundraise a minimum amount, there is no registration fee:
No way! You can have as many people join your team as you'd like - there is no limit.
No - you can register online at any time leading up to event day. But, we recommend you register early so that you can use the weeks before event day to raise lots of funds for your TGP charity!
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Open up the login box at the top of the page - there's a Forgot Password link there that will take you to a page where you can reset your password or username. (We've also got a team of friendly customer service people you can contact for help.)
No - the $25 registration fee (which is required for adults over the age of 18 who raised less than $150, or youth aged 10-17 who raised less than $75) is not tax-deductible.
Simply add in five zeroes (00000) as the postal code, and the donation page should allow you to continue. If you're still having trouble, contact us and we'll be happy to help you out.
Definitely! Once you've recorded your cash donations online, you can pay them through your Fundhub using your personal credit card or Paypal to avoid lugging an envelope of cash around:
If you'd like to pay with a personal cheque, be sure to enter your cash pledges online and then total your cash donations. Make cheques payable to The Grand Parade. Bring this with you on event day with your completed list of pledges, and you're all set.
Firstly, don't hit "reply" to that notification email - that just goes to us (and we might giggle at you).
Secondly, to thank your donors:
Email us at info@thegrandparade.org and we'll take care of it for you.
Note: If you have collected cash or cheque pledges, please ensure that all donor names and addresses are carefully posted online in your FundHub.
Don't send cash in the mail. Pay for cash with a personal cheque from you (or pay by credit online). Send all cheques with your pledge sheet (if applicable) to:
Blue Sea Foundation
attn: The Grand Parade
260-659 King St. East,
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
N2G 2M4
The short answer is yes. It helps us better prepare for how many participants to expect on Event Day.
Create a separate registration profile for each family member. You could use the same email address for all of them, or even post all donations under one family member's name for efficiency's sake, but each person should have their own profile.
Most adults raise about $250, while kids raise around $100 or so. This is why we've set the fundraising minimums at $150 for adults and $75 for youth.
Those minimums are totally beatable, you can do it! We see lots of people raise much more. It depends on your network, age, and willingness to ask.
If you want to start or join a team (or walk by yourself), you can register online by clicking the Register button on the homepage. The registration process will take you about 5 minutes, so you can do it while the coffee's perking.
Important: When setting up your username, please do not use spaces.
Once you register online, you can use your online FundHub to email your friends and family a link to your personal fundraising page. There, they can give to you securely online by credit card or PayPal. Alternately, you can download a pledge form, print it out and ask people for support face-to-face.
Add these pledges online on your personal FundHub page:
This is a change that must be made at the TGP Headquarters - if you'd like to switch your team captain, please email us at info@thegrandparade.org. When you do, tell us your team name and who you'd like your new captain to be - we'll fix it for you.
You can change your walking distance by:
This can only be performed by the participant who started the team (the Team Captain):
To edit your personal goal:
To edit your team's goal (Team Captains only):
We encourage everyone to fundraise of course - this is a fundraiser!
Note: The registration fee is non-refundable and will not generate a tax receipt.
You don't have to! But normally, teams begin walking in TGP together and spread out once they get moving. Everyone walks at their own pace!
Yes - this is a change that we need to make at TGP Headquarters. Contact us, and we'll either:
If you'd like to transfer one or more of your donations from your account to your teammate's, email us at info@thegrandparade.org with:
Note: We cannot split individual donations (e.g. dividing a single $50 donation amongst two different walkers).
Ask us! Visit the contact page to get in touch with our friendly customer-service team.